Did I create a link wheel & got penalized for it?

[FlashDriveDT]

For some reason I have just dropped from Google spot #3 to page 2 for two of my keywords pointing to the same page. Both keywords used to be #3 and are currently dropped.

I have been consistently building links for both keywords (mostly Angelas & PJs sites) and I was able to watch a slow but consistent climb in the rankings up until #3. Aiming for #2 I built more links this month for both keywords, just like previously. Except for one thing: I also built links to profile pages I wasn't able to get indexed previously. Those profile pages link to the page Im ranking with. So Im wondering if this is already considered a link wheel and thus google penalized me for it?

I didn't really do that many of these "link-links" and quite frankly, I never gave link wheels much thought. But now Im thinking I unintentionally created one and Google doesnt like it. I dont see how though, given that all the pages are filled with some content on a relatively high PR site.

This is the pattern I did:
Post on forum X with link to profile site A--> profile site A with bio text linking to my page --> my page
Post on forum Y with link to profile site B --> profile site B with bio text linking to my page --> my page

I only used genuine forum posts to do the links to the profiles (either via signature or homepage field). I already did this a little bit last month but I guess this month it triggered something. Anyone have any idea if this is bad? I want to emphasize that I did not do any real link wheeling, like getting several pages to link to the same profile. There was always only one forum page that linked to one external profile.

Of course its also possible that I got so much link juice from this that Im experiencing a short google dance. But I find that a tad hard to believe since usually I only experience the Google dance when I begin a campaign, not when Im already several months into it. But I guess anything is possible?

Thanks for any feedback!

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by FlashDriveDT

Did I create a link wheel & got penalized for it?

Clearly not, because otherwise all one would have to do to get a competitor's site penalized would be to create linkwheels of that type for it. And there'd be people in subfusc-headwear forums (and on Fiverr) selling the service, to disable the competition.

Google may sometimes make some eccentric decisions, but they're not crazy enough to allow something done externally to your own site (i.e. "could be done by malicious others") to exert a penalty against your own site. They know, just as you and I do, that they can't do that without ultimately making their SERP's valueless. That's where so many of these urban myths of SEO fall down, and aren't quite "thought through".

Originally Posted by FlashDriveDT

Of course its also possible that I got so much link juice from this that Im experiencing a short google dance.

You read it here first.

In fact, on this occasion you even wrote it here first.

[Chris Kent]

As you said, you have "just" dropped.

There's no way to tell - you need to wait a little longer. I know you want answers now but you have to wait a couple of weeks minimum to see what happens. Most likely they will bounce back (how old are the sites? are they fresh regs or aged sites?).

btw I believe it is a myth that you cannot do damage with links. Many often point to the fact that if this were possible then you could destroy your competition but that assertion proves nothing.

Fact is, you can destroy your competition or any site quite easily.

If anyone doesn't believe me, just give me your own cash-earning website url and I'll pump it through xrumer daily and we'll see what happens.

[FlashDriveDT]

Well, the page I'm ranking with these keywords for is a deeper page on my website. That website is aged and has a PR of 4. The page itself is about 4 months old and has no PR yet. Im ranking with a similar page like that for another keyword and Ive also been doing some "link-links" for it. That ranking is still fine though.

I agree that some type of links or link patterns can hurt you. Though I think Matt Cutts once said "there are no bad links", only ones that get counted or discounted. Either way, something happened and hopefully I will find out if its just a google dance or not. (Anyone ever had it occur after several months of backlinking?)